Carbon emissions within the European Union's Emissions Trading System rose 3.4% in 2010 compared with a year earlier due to stronger economic activity, according to an average of three analysts' calculations of preliminary and incomplete data released by the European Commission Friday.
Carbon emissions within the European Union's Emissions Trading System
rose 3.4% in 2010 compared with a year earlier due to stronger economic
activity, according to an average of three analysts' calculations of
preliminary and incomplete data released by the European Commission Friday.
According to an average of calculations from Deutsche Bank, SocGen and
Tshach-Solutions, carbon emissions in the ETS in 2010 were 1.941 billion metric
tons, compared with 1.877 billion tons in 2009.
"Countries with the largest change were
Spain
and
Portugal
who
were down 11% and 13% respectively," said Jan Frommeyer, managing director
of Tshach-Solutions. "This is mainly due to the reduction in their power
emissions which were down 22% in
Spain
and
29% in
Portugal
, this
was because their usage of renewable energy increased extensively."
Emissions in
Germany
and
Poland
rose
more than expected as their economies recovered. Smaller countries like
Latvia
and
Estonia
were
also up, but it isn't yet clear why, the analysts said.
No data was available from
Malta
and
Cyprus
,
while
Bulgaria
,
Greece
, the
Czech
Republic
and
Romania
provided incomplete data, analysts said. One analyst estimated that the data
were around 90% complete. In previous years, it has been about 80% complete.
The data are incomplete due to some countries either not reporting at all or
providing partial data. The commission didn't provide any explanation of the
data, which will change as more information becomes available.
A European Commission spokesman said more data is expected to trickle in next
week.
Deutsche Bank carbon analyst Isabelle Curien said that emissions were up more
than expected in the power sector, while refining was the only sector to show a
decrease in emissions as refinery capacity shrank in
Europe
.
All analysts said the data confirm there are too many allowances in the market.
The commission uses the data to guide policy and to verify compliance in member
states.
The ETS is the EU's flagship program to curb emissions. It puts a price on
carbon aiming to stimulate investment in clean energy and green technologies.
However, the system has faced repeated setbacks due to frauds and thefts of
allowances. Experts also believe there are too many allowances on the market,
limiting price increases and undermining the incentive to invest in green
technologies.
The ETS will be upgraded in 2013, with the inclusion of more sectors and the
auctioning of many of the allowances that are currently given out free.
At the moment, it covers around 11,000 installations such as power plants, oil
refineries, iron and steel plants as well as cement, glass, lime, bricks,
ceramics, pulp, paper and board makers.
Starting in 2013, the total number of allowances on the market will start
decreasing every year so the EU can reduce emissions 20% by 2020 compared with
1990 levels.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01